Speaker: Michael Motz, Vice Principal , Loma Alta MS
Who are you, what is your occupation, how many years have you been doing it, and why did you get into your career?
Michael Motz: Hey, I'm Michael Motts. This is my wife. Hello, I'm Melissa Motts. We have been, we're both teachers. I've been, I was a science teacher, football coach for 18 years. This is my second year though as a school, vice principal. And I have been teaching mostly middle school math for 17 years. And biggest reason why I got into education, on the football side was definitely to, push students to their limits and, and really help them see their full potential and what they, what, what they can become, as a school principal, now as a, as a school leader, just really helping empower teachers to do the same and to, elevate our campus.
Before working with us, what did you know (or not know) about your pension, retirement, and insurance benefits?
Michael Motz: Before working with Mr. James, I did not know anything about money, where it needed to be saved, what was going on with all that. So I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to work with Mr. James and completely trust him with taking care of all of our money. Yeah, so we were former colleagues in the coaching world for a long time and so, as I was changing districts and not really knowing who my financial advisor was, not really getting the best advice, plus with the changing, economy and everything. It was good to have a knowledgeable friend at the time who could, who could break it down for me. Also was able to move us towards, celebration where, his leadership and his guidance, not only as a friend, but now somebody who is, helping me with our pensions and our retirements and our benefits, he's a phone call away and he's absolutely there to, to help us with anything we need.
What changed since meeting with us, and how did we help you feel more confident about your financial future?
Michael Motz: So since meeting Lewis or and, and starting to partner with him, Most confidence I got was just really understanding now that we're in our 40s, we have, we have children working on college accounts, not only our retirement, but really seeing where, when we can retire, but also piecing it together and learning different strategies, moving forward. Early in our careers we were investing a little, but we were more aggressive with it. And, and now he was able to show us what certain dividends look like compared to others, and, and so, he's able to compare things for us. He's able to look at, what, what numbers look like, not only now, but what they're projected to be, and not only that, but what, what money is going to stay with us and not necessarily be lost to the market. So, so that gives us a lot of confidence in our, in our financial future that, that, that really takes a lot of the fear about how long do we have to work and we really do have a good, good sense of where we're going.
If recommending your agent / advisor to - please explain why so that we can help others take control of their future!
Michael Motz: So we absolutely recommend our, our agent and advisor, Louis James, as mentioned before, I've known him for a long time, but now as a principal, not only is he my financial advisor, but I've recommended him out to my staff. He has, at 22 different campuses, he's brought lunch to one campus for, for summer school. He's also brought breakfast to our teachers, the last 2 years, and, doing that, I've been able to bring him clients, but also I, but, But while I'm saying I'm bringing them clients, I'm making sure teachers that are under my care are with somebody that I trust. And so I'm not just sending him to just a run of the mill per, person, I'm sending him to, somebody I personally trust, somebody I personally work with, and so, again, earlier talking about I like to take care of the teachers who are under my care. I do that also by making sure that they're in the right hands with the right people.
